Title

Plants & LED lights

Problem Scenario

There may come a need to grow plants inside to produce food for people who need to eat. This experiment will test how fast we can grow food with the resources around us.

Broad Question

How do lights affect plant growth?

Specific Question

How do different colored LEDs affect plant growth?

Hypothesis

It is hypothesized that Plants grown in the NORMAL LED light will not grow as fast as the plants grown in the RED and BLUE LED light.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable:

The color of the LED light

Dependent Variable:

The growth of the plants every day

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

The plants grown in the NORMAL LED lights

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

(None)

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General Plan

First you will have to get all of the materials to complete this experiment;

• A bag of Miracle-Gro Potting Mix soil
• A fish tank (with top) and a fish tank LED light
• Enough water to have each plant get 5 ml of water everyday
• Red and Blue Colored cellophane
• Seeds
• Black construction paper
• Scissors
• Tape
• Cups
• Cardboard box

Make sure that the fish tank is clean before starting the experiment.
Cover the outside of the tank with black construction paper. Then put cardboard dividers into the tank. Put RED and BLUE cellophane on the fish tank top. Put some soil into the nine cups and plant the 3 seeds in each of them. Put them in the tank and put the tank top on. Water the plants 5 ml and measure them everyday for two weeks. Once you have the data collected for two weeks, you can clean up the experiment and analyze the data.

Potential Problems And Solutions

Some messing with the experiment.
Put the experiment somewhere where people won't touch it.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

This experiment might cause a higher electricity bill.
This experiment will burn you if you touch the light while it's on.

Experimental Design:

What is your experimental unit?

The height of a plant grown in a colored LED's light.

Number Of Trials:

Three

Number Of Subjects In Each trial:

There will be three. A NORMAL LED, a BLUE LED and a RED LED.

Number of Observations

One measurement of each trail every day for two weeks

When data will be collected

Tuesday, March 12, 2013 to Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Where will data be collected?:

At school
Resources and Budget Table

Item	Number needed	Where I will get this	Cost
Seeds	36 seeds	School	0.00
Fish Tank	1tank	Friend	0.00
LED	1light	Friend	0.00
Colored Cellophane	2 rolls	Christmas Tree Shop	3.78
Soil		Christmas Tree Shop
Water	35 ml	The Earth	0.00
Black construction paper		School	0.00
Scissors	1 pair	School	0.00
Tape	1 roll	School	0.00
Cups	9 cups	School	0.00

Detailed Procedure

1. Get all materials list below;
   • A bag of Miracle-Gro Potting Mix soil
   • A fish tank (with top) and a fish tank LED light
   • 35ml of water
   • Red and Blue Colored cellophane
   • 36 Winter Rye Seeds
   • A lot of black construction paper
   • a pair of Scissors
   • a roll of Tape
   • 9 Small Paper Cups
   • A Cardboard box
2. Cut the cardboard box into two dividers that go from on wall of the tank to the other and should go up to the top of the tank to prevent the other colored LED light from going into that section of the tank. The dividers should divide the tank into three sections.They should be a snug fit so you won't have to tape them. You may tape them if you wish. Put them in the tank and leave them be.
3. Then cover the entire out side of the tank with the black construction paper so no outside light could enter through the glass. the only light that the plants should receive should be the artificial LED light of there section.
4. Next cut the RED and BLUE Cellophane into pieces that are big enough to cover the LED fish tank lights opening to only allow that color of light into one section of the tank. tape them down to the glass.
5. Now that the tank is prepared, open the Miracle-Gro Potting Mix bag and fill every small paper cup to the top.
6. Plant three Winter Rye Seeds in each cup randomly.
7. Place three cups in each section and put the top of the tank on. Then put the LED fish tank light on the top.
8. Open the lid and water every plant 5 ml everyday. Remember to only open the lid enough to measure the plants and water them everyday.
9. Water and take measurements for about one to two weeks. Afterwards clean up the tank and the area around the tank. Rip of the construction paper and take off the cellophane on the top. Take out the plants for one final measurement and take some photos. Then throw away the plants if you wish. Throw away the construction paper and and the cellophane that was used. Then congratulation you completed this experiment.

Diagram

Photo List

1. End of the experiment
2. Plants in the tank at the end of the experiment.
3. Watering and or measuring of the plants
4. all of the plants lined up at the end of the experiment with name tags in front

Time Line

Tuesday, March 12, 2013 - Start of the experiment
Thursday, March 21, 2013 - End of the experiment / Measuring date
Friday, March 22, 2013 - Start poster and printing
Friday, March 29, 2013 - Finish poster and printing / School Science Fair

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Data Table

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Data Analysis

The data showed that the hypothesis that was created at the beginning of this experiment was wrong. The data proves that Rye plants can grow in almost any light and not be affected by hue of the light source. The plants grown in BLUE LED were the shortest plants meaning that they weren't the most successful group of the experiment. The RED LED plants were the opposite and grew to be the tallest or the most successful plant group. The NORMAL LED plants grew about averagely tall considering the RED and the BLUE LED plants' height. The RED LED plants grew about an average of 20.66 centimeters tall while the BLUE LED plants grew an average of 18.33 centimeters tall. The NORMAL LED plants grew an average 19.93 centimeters tall by the end of the experiment. The plants did grow very fast during this experiment, which lasted nine days.

All Raw Data

Graphs

Photos

Watering a plant

Getting the correct measurement of a RED LED plant

Results

Conclusion

The hypothesis given at the beginning of the experiment was proven wrong by the data collect. The plants grown in the RED and BLUE LED light did not show any difference in growth than the plants grown in NORMAL LED light. The hypothesis was shown to be a disproven hypothesis. The plants grew at the same pace except the plants in the BLUE LED section.

Discussion

The data collected during this experiment shows that plants could in any type of LED light and will not be affected by the hue. The plants grown in the RED LED light were the tallest plants by the end of the experiment. On the other hand the plants grown in the BLUE LED light were the shortest plant in the experiment. The control variable, the plants grown in the NORMAL LED light showed an average height The NORMAL LED plants were at a Goldie Locks type of zone. They weren't too short like the BLUE LED plants, and they weren't too tall, like the RED LED plants. The data showed that plants aren't affected by hue when they are growing, they just need light to grow.
The relationship between the independent and dependent variable is fairly dependent. The dependent variable is the growth of plants everyday and the independent variable is the color of the LED light used to grow the plants. The dependent variable's out come depends on the independent variable, which is what makes it the dependent variable and not an independent variable. The dependent variable does depend on the independent variable.
The data did answer the experimental question. The question was; how does different colored LED's affect plant growth? The answer given by the data was that Winter Rye plants are not affected by color of light. In other words, the experiment did answer the original question.
Like most other experiments, this experiment did have errors that could be fixed for the next experimental trial. The experiment was started later than expected and data was not collected as successful as it was supposed to be. A few days are missing from the data table because the scientist was unable to collect data from various problems, such as unexpected days off, etc. The experiment was also modified many times to be with in budget of the scientist These few factors may have put errors in the data. This experiment did have a few errors and technical difficulties.
For the future the experiment could proceed more smoothly than the original experiment, with a few modifications. The plants were grown in the same fish tank to eliminate that variable but one of the sections was almost completely surrounded with cardboard making that an important variable that might have put errors in the data collected. Light that was not apart of the experiment shining in to the plants while the scientist took measurement and watered the plants was also another variable failed to control. The plants could be grown in a dark room and have measurements take when they are still underneath the LED light in the tank. The scientist was unable to take measurements and water the plants due to unexpected days off, could have effected the plants. The plants could be grown at home to prevent this variable from reoccurring in the next experiment. This experiment could be improved in the future for better results.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

This experiment could help our society if in any need we have to resort to growing plants inside we would be able to find out how to grow plants faster with different colored LED's. The benefit to science would be that we could grow plants inside to study rare or exotic plants. This experiment or study benefits both society and science for the future.

Background Research

LED or Light-emitting Diode were created in 1927 by Oleg Vladimirovich Losev. Though Oleg published the invention in Russian, German and British scientific journals, but no practical use was made of the light for several decades. Later two men, Robert Biard and Gary Pittman, discovered an infrared light while working at Texas Instruments in 1961. Soon to follow other colors of LED's where added to the spectrum. LED's now come in blue, red, ultraviolet, orange, yellow, green, violet, purple, white and pink. LED's have been used in place of regular incandescent light bulbs to minimize electricity bills. LED's use less electricity and emit more light than the regular everyday incandescent light bulb. LED's are inexpensive compared to other lights.

Rye is grown in most places around the world. Rye is grown as a grain and forage crop. It can be used as flour, bread, rye beer, animal fodder and in some whiskeys and vodkas. Rye has been cultivated in Europe since the Middle Ages. This plant is used some times as a winter crop to cover ground during winter. Rye can be harvested for an extra crop or tilled into the ground to make a more organic soil for the next garden. Rye grows quite rapidly with water and light of almost any type (including LED's). Rye is highly susceptible to ergot, a type of fungus that grows on rye and makes rye unable to eat. Those who eat rye infected with ergot will suffer from ergotism which may lead to death. Rye can be grown almost anywhere with soil even if the soil is poor.

References

"Winter Rye." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 03 Feb. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2013.
"Ergot." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Mar. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2013.
"Light-emitting Diode." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Mar. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2013.
"Light Bulb." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Mar. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2013.
"Light-Emitting Diode (LED)." How Products Are Made. 1994. Encyclopedia.com. 24 Mar. 2013<http://www.encyclopedia.com>.
"Google." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2013.

Abstract

There is a large population of humans and pets living on earth. Humans and pets need food and water to survive. There is many people without food in many countries. with the growing need for food we might have to resort to growing food and plants in our homes. This experiment is based around the ability to grow plants for food at a faster pace under different colored LED light. It was hypothesized that the plants grown in different colored LED light would grow faster.
For this experiment, rye plants were grown under different colored LED light in a blacked out tank with dividers. The experiment tested to see if the plants would grow at a faster pace than normal. The plants were measured at the end of the experiment to see the end result of the test. The plants grown under RED LED light grew the fastest and became the tallest plants of the experiment. While the plants grown in BLUE LED light grew the slowest and the plants grown in NORMAL LED light grew to be the average height of the experiment.
The data collected from the experiment shows that plants may not be affected by the hue in the light provided. This data may help in the near future to end world hunger. With the growing number of people on the planet, there might come a need to grow plants inside to make food for the world.